Abraham Kuyper’s Religio-Political Rhetoric

Abstract

Even Kuyper’s critics acknowledge his great powers of oratory. Kuyper’s rhetoric had a strong romantic flavour of artistic inspiration and aimed at a vivid representation of reality. His stalwart defence of Calvinism against modernism (here taken by Kuyper as the predominant secular worldview) drew from personal experience and from the struggles in Dutch history, resulting in strong opinions couched in both military and organic metaphors. His mastery of the psychology of mass communication (Gustave le Bon) served his political goals rather well. Kuyper was also aware of the importance of modern media such as rallies, stump speeches, journals and pamphlets (which had a broad circulation at the time) and reflected on how to make good use of modern forms of communication. Kuyper’s rhetorical and polemical mastery not only empowered and energized his constituency, but also led to divisions in Dutch society that are still visible in the present day and are now termed ‘pillarization’.